Friday, 26 May 2017

After the Chartres Pilgrimage is over, on the next morning we Priests say Mass in the crypt of the Cathedral. They have become much more accommodating and welcoming over the years, but there is still a bit of a harrumpf when it comes to Missals, Vestments and especially Altar Cards.

So what does every well stocked priest need? A set of travelling ones! I'd made some before but they were unsatisfactory. The central one would not stand up. So, I made some new ones. They are rather spiffy, and most importantly, they stand up! (It's all to do with sticky tape, scissors, laminating pouches, a guillotine - don't get too excited dear French readers - but the exact method must remain a secret, or else the 'Worshipful Company of Altar Card Makers' will hunt me down).

So if you're in Chartres Cathedral the day after the Pilgrimage ends and you find yourself in the crypt, then come over and have a gander.

Wednesday, 24 May 2017

Of all the thorny subjects in the world, this one really should not be thorny at all. We have come to a pretty pass when we can look at this title and instead of thinking “Now, what is that silly Father Bede up to now? Of course we believe in marriage!”, rather our minds veer towards “Gosh, Fr Bede, this is pretty contentious stuff, you could be struck off the Pope’s/Cardinal’s/Bishop’s Christmas card list for this!”

So, we still believe in marriage? Good question.

Let’s look at it point by point. Do we believe that marriage is the stable union of man and woman, designed by Almighty God for the enrichment of the human soul, and the begetting of the human race? Yes, I think we do. However, society does not. It, through its laws, and, more influentially through its television programmes and soap operas, presents a vision of marriage which is not lifelong, exclusive or open to life. At base, it is not even a union between a man and a woman at all. That has been ‘redefined’. Two men, or two women, may now contract a ‘marriage’. And this union is not essentially lifelong. Why should it be? If it happens like that, all well and good but if not, then that’s fine. And it cannot be for having and raising children, as the nature of such unions is not biologically open to any form of a natural conception of human life. And who knows what the grand social experiment will have on the little ones who are brought up in this world, being told that anything goes, that they can express themselves in any way they like, as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone. Let’s face it, they can even decide they’re boys if they’re girls, and girls if they’re boys. Where does marriage stand in all this?

Do we believe in marriage? If by ‘we’, you mean Catholics, then ask those around you next time you’re in Mass what they think about it. Do they think Frank and Bob are married? Should they be able to adopt? Should a 16 year old be able to align themselves to a different gender? And if you get the answers you expect, then turn from that person and ask someone under 20. You see, the social experiment has been at work on them for quite a while now. We may believe it, but you have to ask who ‘we’ are.

So, what about our hierarchy? Well, we got the concession that we Priests won’t be prosecuted for refusing to marry two men or two women in church; we are exempt from this so-called equality legislation. I think our forefathers might have died for less, but never mind. However I do not remember us marching in the streets to defend marriage as the French did. Our adoption agencies were closed down for refusing to place children with same sex couples (though some shamelessly continue to do so while claiming links to the Catholic Church, even with Bishops’ approval and parishes’ fundraising), and our schools are too tainted by government ideology to be able to present the truth of Catholicism without watering it down with relativism. So, do we really believe in marriage, when our defence of it was a few raised voices at the time of its redefinition (but not too much, we are English after all and it wouldn’t do to make a fuss), a waved piece of paper saying we won’t have to do it in our Churches, and an almost complete capitulation in every other sphere of social life?

Actually, I’m not sure we do believe in marriage that much after all. If I say that I love you more than life itself, but then cannot be bothered to help you when the chips are down, then my words and my actions are at odds. I am a hypocrite. You should not believe what I say. What can you tell about what the Catholic Church believes about marriage by her actions in the social realm? What is our defence of marriage? Of family life? Of the raising of children?

To be frank, I think that we have conceded the fight, and have retreated into a little Catholic box where we can define what we believe and what we do, and we do not have to engage with the nasty world.

Monday, 22 May 2017

The first of the final two coats of arms is that of Chavagnes International College, of whose Scouts I am privileged to be chaplain. Fine and brave Scouts they are indeed! Search on the search thing to the right of this post and find out the most wonderful and marvellous things that they do.

This very blog is thanks (or curses) to Chavagnes. It is because of this that I am a 'chaplain' (to the school) 'abroad' (for France is sadly no longer under the British crown).

And this last one is the flag of Northumberland. This windswept county is beautiful, simply stunning. It retains the rugged honesty and integrity of place which is lost in so many areas of the country. Northumberland has it in spades. It is the place of my family and birth. The flag, though a recent invention, is based on an account of St Bede the Venerable of the flag draped on St Oswald's tomb in the 7th century. To my intense irritation, it is often flown upside down. Top left should be gold. Not red. Gold.

So there you have it, my Chartres surplice. I hope that it survives more than one year, but if it does not, then it will have been worn to the glory of God and in honour of the Blessed Virgin. I beg the intersession of the saints and blesseds who are thereon, and I carry with me in my heart all the rest.

Come to Chartres! Come because of a sweet love of Our Lady. But if you cannot, then pray for us. And we will pray for you - for the whole world.

Let us, like knights of old, ride into battle against sin, the world, and the Devil carrying Our Lady's token, knowing that should we fall in the attempt, that she will cradle us in her arms and when this life ebbs away, smooth away our troubled hearts, and kiss our brow as only a Mother can.

Saturday, 20 May 2017

And so here are the coats of arms of St John Fisher, and St Thomas More. Behind St Thomas More's are maces of office. These are two great figures in English Catholicism. Both of them stood up to the bed-hopping, wife killer Henry VIII.

Next (above) is Blessed John Henry Newman. Very fond of him I am indeed. Even more so, as he was at my college in Oxford (or should that be that I was at his college?!). I like the idea that I, as a callow youth, walked the same quads as this great man, this great Blessed, this great sign of true ecumenism.

It was through his rigorous intellectual searching that he was led to the Catholic Church, but it was the inspiration and example of Blessed Dominic of the Mother of God Barbari, who was the instrument of God's conversion of Bl. John Henry Newman. Simple piety and fiendish brain in perfect harmony!

The final coat of arms today is that of Bishop Mervyn Alexander, who was Bishop of Clifton. I know that his arms are not right as there should be more tassels, so don't bother hunting me down like the dog I am. Bishop Mervyn was a holy man with a true humility. He let me into the Diocese and sent me to seminary, and I was privileged enough to anoint him when he was ill in hospital, and carried his coffin when he died. Say a prayer for the repose of the soul of the good and kind successor of the Apostles.

Friday, 19 May 2017

One of the next two coats of arms should be easily recognisable for it is the one I made up for myself. As I may have said, I'm very fond of coats of arms. It is the first one that you see above.

I thought that as I had not put my name in the surplice, and if was stolen by an enemy, then I could easily get it back with a swift

"HA, that's my coat of arms, and if you think it's yours, then tell me of the mystical symbolism within it!"

You have to have all your bases covered when you're a chaplain abroad, abroad.

But the second one is not mine at all, but a Clifton comrade, Fr Redman. You can see him consulting Lenin here. He 'persuaded' me to put it on, but I suspect that his motives were nefarious. You see, should I come to a terrible, suspicious end as we go along, then he can swipe my surplice and claim that it is his own!

You cannot trust Priests when it comes to surplices. If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand time, "Never trust a Priest with your surplice."

Thursday, 18 May 2017

I was ordained under the pontificate of St John Paul II, and Pope Benedict XVI is still wonderfully alive in the Vatican. I included them both on the surplice as I have such a high regard for them.

St John Paul stood up against the world and won.

Pope Benedict through his razor sharp theology pieced to the heart of the issue.

I wish I had the courage of John Paul, and in the intellect and kindness of Benedict. So I wear their shields as I walk along. St John Paul, I pray, looks down from heaven to to help me to be strong in my faith, and I carry the wonderful Pope Benedict as he is too old to walk to Chartres now.

Wednesday, 17 May 2017

Getting ready for Chartres is one of the best times in the year. You have to dig out your walking boots from the place where you threw them last year, and then realise that you should really have cleaned them before making them disappear. You have to check you French Elastoplast stock (different from the English stuff and absolutely essential). And where did you put you spectacles fixing kit?

And then you have to decide what you are going to wear. We Priests walk in cassock, cotta and purple stole to hear confessions as we go along (and in my case a quat' bosse scouting hat - well you would, wouldn't you).

Poor cotta from last year, not too well.

My poor cotta from last year, however, had worn out. It was pretty old to begin with, and the rubbing of the backpack finally made too many holes appear. And I feared that even if I fixed them, they would not last the rigors of the first day.

So, I bought a surplice. Now, these are known almost exclusively as 'Anglican' things, but they came from the English Tradition, so must have been Catholic. And I think we should claim back/celebrate our heritage. And I've always liked the flappy sleeves.

But when it came, it just seemed so PLAIN. And I'm not sure that Our Lady likes plain. So out came the cotton and needles, and the result is as you see it above.

I think I might have to add to it for next year, as the pink bits don't really come out. But we shall see,

As I like coats of arms (and arms of coats) there are a few. I'll explain them in the next few posts. But to begin here are the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart.

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Any lecturers reading, this is not why I am about 3 weeks behind in my thesis!

The Catholic Herald reports, here, that the Labour idea of legislating to extend abortion in Northern Ireland has been 'watered down'.

This is a good thing, but you can't help thinking that things which were not in manifestos (anyone remember gay 'marriage') can suddenly be pushed through. Now it is "we will work with the Assembly to extend that right to women in Northern Ireland". Not, presumably, female babies.

Let's hope that Labour's 'for the many, not the few' will extend to full human rights for those in the womb.

Sunday, 14 May 2017

Browsing through the bulletins of the parishes of one's Diocese can be very instructive. Especially when you are a Chaplain Abroad! And even more when you are a Chaplain Abroad waiting to hear which Parish the Bishop has put you in.

So, this much I know from the website of Corpus Christi Weston-super-Mare. There is a chain (we priests are rather like house moves), which is:

That's all I know. I know that the Bishop and his council met just before Easter, about four weeks ago, so I'm hoping that he will tell me soon where I am going. I still have no idea, but it is not beyond the realms of possibilities that someone out there knows already, so if you do know, send me an email. Go on, go on. As the title says, I'm VERY excited.

And if I am your new parish priest and you are scoping me out, then "HELLO!" We'll have a great time... I have a large number of hats and an inordinate love of GCSE mathematics.

Thursday, 11 May 2017

I mentioned, rather a little skittishly, that I thought that our Bishops might be telling us to vote Conservative (sorry about that Bishops! I know you would never tell us what to do).

However, the leaked Labour Manifesto surely means that no Catholic can vote Labour. Of course, the Official Manifesto might change, but the Catholic Herald, here, shows that Labour will legislate for abortion in Northern Ireland. Labour will “continue to ensure a woman’s right to choose a safe, legal abortion – and we will legislate to extend that right to women in Northern Ireland.”

The sanctity of human life has to be the irreducible priority of any Catholic opinion. We cannot have rights or obligations if we do not exist.

Bishop Egan asked us to "find out where election candidates stand on abortion and assisted suicide", link here. He said

First, and foremost, how far will this or that candidate protect the sacred dignity of each human life from conception to natural death, opposing moves to liberalise the abortion laws, to extend embryo experimentation and to legalise assisted suicide and euthanasia?

Can any of us in good conscience support a party which intends to extend the abortion of poor children in the womb?

I'd like to hear that one argued on Judgement Day: "I know they wanted to kill infants in the womb, but on reflection I thought that nationalising the Railways and Mail service outweighed it in the end."

Thursday, 4 May 2017

I have been mulling over the interview with Archbishop McMahon, and I think it is very instructive that it has come out at just this time.

You see I have been reading Vatican documents for the past three years and so now know all about half quotations, spurious supposition and dodgy theology. So I know that timing is everything. After all, can it really have been a surprise that my own beloved Nostra Aetate was presented at the last minute of the third session of Vat II. They had two days to look over a whole new document and then vote on it. It was passed. They all wanted to get home.

So back to the Archbishop. It seems (according to EVERYONE) that we're sick of election, so I think that this is all a sneaky episcopal plot to brainwash us into voting in the way the Bishops want. I am sure that this is not a plot by any individual bishop, but by the whole episcopal conference. They were created for this, they came into the world after vat II for this...

Who can forget "The Common Good" in 1996, (download it here). It tells you how to vote. Of course some bits are now old hat. Take section 100 for example " It is possible to be both
British and European." Not anymore matey.

So I think, that then as now, the Bishops are trying to guide us in our voting intentions. And good for them. Keeps them busy.

If the Bishops think that we should be able to have grammar schools and Labour says no, and the Lib Dems say no, and the Greens say no ...

Wednesday, 3 May 2017

In a generally negative interview with Archbishop Malcolm McMahon, the Archbishop puts forward many interesting points. The full interview is here, and here are some highlights...

McMahon says the proportion of pupils in Catholic schools from deprived areas and the proportion from ethnic minority backgrounds are both above average, as indeed they are.

“The Church of England runs schools for the wider community,” McMahon says. “Ours are different. They are for the Catholic community.” Though non-Catholics account for a third of pupils, and nearly 10% are Muslims, the archbishop is clear: by canon law, schools are forbidden to turn away Catholic parents in favour of non-Catholics.

Is it fair that non-Catholics should pay for schools from which their own children may be excluded? “Parents’ rights to educate their children as they wish is fundamental,” he says.

“It’s not just the faith school sector which is faced with mono-cultural schools. Many community schools comprise predominantly one ethnicity and faith.”

“We are not anti-grammar schools,” says McMahon. “There are already seven existing Catholic grammar schools and we welcome a diversity of provision that promotes parental choice.” It will be up to individual diocesan authorities, he says, whether to open new ones.

Did some pupils have same-sex parents? “Why would same-sex parents want to send their children to a Catholic school?

Read the whole thing, it really is quite excellent. The writer, of course, simply doesn't get Catholic Education, but perhaps that says more about the liberal intelligensia, than it does Catholic Education.

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O Lord Jesus Christ, whose glorious Mother was honoured for so many centuries under the title of Our Lady St Mary of Glastonbury, grant that through her intercession, together with that of your blessed martyrs Richard Whiting, Roger James and John Thorne, who in Glastonbury laid down their lives for their Faith, that true unity of Faith may be restored among Christians in this country and that we your servants may ever rejoice in health of mind and body to render you fitting praise. Amen.

At this Shrine of Our Blessed Lady we ask you, Almighty Father, to fill our hearts with thanks for our redemption. And as the names of Jesus and Mary were linked together in Glastonbury's ancient Shrine, we confidently ask through the merits of your divine Son and the intercession of his Blessed Mother, that You will grant us all we need for soul and body. Amen.

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All sentiments on this blog are my own. Please forgive any mistakes and accept that I may not agree with you, or indeed, you with me.